Daily Fantasy Sports Update: Industry Wins in NY and Massachusetts

The daily fantasy sports industry is in a fight for its life in courtrooms and state houses across the United States. While these battles are bruising, and costly, DFS operators have actually scored a couple big wins since the new year dawned.

The first big win came in New York state, where the state’s attorney general has been working to shut down daily fantasy sports altogether. Earlier this week, the New York Supreme Court granted a stay on the injunction imposed by Justice Manuel Mendez.

Under the terms of the new order, DraftKings and FanDuel can continue serving New York customers until May, when a complaint filed by NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is heard before the court.

While the ability to keep operating in New York is definitely a victory for the DFS industry, it might ring a little hollow. Besides the very real possibility that the sites might be barred from operating in New York, there’s also the fact that the entire DFS industry has been dragged through the mud during its first big year of operation.

This story is still developing and there’s almost certainly going to be more developments before the May hearing.

Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, the DFS got a tepid legal endorsement in the form of a new white paper released by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. While the paper doesn’t necessarily side with the daily fantasy sports industry, it suggests that the state simply decide one way or the other on the legality of daily fantasy sports.

That’s a common sense approach that could save the DFS industry a whole lot of headaches.

It seems safe to say that between now and the beginning of next football season, DFS industry lawyers will be very, very busy.